‘I was fighting for my life’: how a cancer diagnosis turned into seven paralympic medals
By Sydney Berger
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SPOKANE, Wash. (KXLY) — Over 300 table tennis athletes representing over 40 different countries have been competing in Spokane all week long.
One of the best para table tennis athletes in the world brought the heat to the Inland Northwest. Will Bayley is a seven-time paralympic medalist representing his home country of Great Britain. He’s ranked World No. 1.
“I’ve always got a target on my back,” Bayley said.
Bayley plays in Class 7 Men’s singles. That classification is for athletes with severe impairment of their legs or their playing arm. Bayley suffers from a condition called arthrogryposis, which affects all of his limbs.
“It affects my muscles, and it affects my movement and my joints… it’s kind of like an arthritis you could say. But I was born with it, so it doesn’t get worse, and it doesn’t get better.”
Bayley said although table tennis is a great sport for people with disabilities, it wasn’t his rare condition that got him into the sport.
“I got blood cancer when I was seven, so it was a bit unlucky you know after the disability that I had. I was in the bath with my mum and she saw a lump on my neck and the next day I was getting treatment,” Bayley said.
After he was diagnosed with Hodgkins-lymphoma, Bayley spent two years in the hospital fighting for his life. But it was inside those hospital walls, Bayley was gifted something that would spark the competitive drive inside him.
‘My grandma bought me a mini table tennis table when I was in treatment and that’s when I started playing. I just started playing in hospital.”
Through Bayley’s toughest trauma, his competitive heart found a way to shine. Even in the most intense matches against athletes facing different disabilities, one common thing surrounds them all; they’ve overcome the toughest moments to be competing in a sport at this level.
“I survived a lot,” said Bayley. “I’m not scared… I fought for my life so everything else is easy.”
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